Art, a serious game
27 November 2021 – 17 July 2022
Curator:
Meryem Sebti – Diptyk Magazine
Art, a serious game is a group exhibition displayed from 27 November 2021 to 17 July 2022 and curated by Meryem Sebti, Editor-in-Dhief of Diptyk magazine.
Based primarily on the Fondation Alliances’ collection, it gathers more than 80 works by 64 contemporary artists, including Mariam Abouzid Souali, Joy Labinjo, Simohamed Fettaka and GaHee Park. Through a variety of media, emblematic works from the collection and new acquisitions, this exhibition explores the theme of play in art.
Is the artist then this eternal child, reliving initiation to the world through toys? Certainly through the creation of an individual space of representation—within the limitations of a normative adult world—but also through experimentation with the arbitrary character of rules and codes that artists are free, always, to transgress. We might begin to define art itself by this scene of imagination, this fictional space in which we live out our first experience of the world. Indeed, since the advent of psychoanalytic theory, cognitive science has insisted upon the formative influence of play. Any object that a child might transform into a toy becomes, according to Freud, “something that he will make an image of”.
Whatever the case may be, le jeu bears witness to a confident and joyously carnival-like world. Under its wave of subversion, we are confronted with a jubilant paradox: if the rules of the game are arbitrary, can they be played to the point of absurdity? Art, a serious game offers visitors a more relaxed and entertaining relationship with the world.
Participating Artists
SOUFIANE ABABRI – MARIAM ABOUZID SOUALI – MOHAMED AREJDAL – NADIA AYARI – MOHAMMED BAALA – YASSINE BALBZIOUI – JAMES BARTOLACCI – FARID BELKAHIA – FOUAD BELLAMINE – AMINA BENBOUCHTA – OTHMANE BENGEBARA – HICHAM BENOHOUD – MAHI BINEBINE – ZOULIKHA BOUABDELLAH – MERIEM BOUDERBALA – MAX MOULAY MANSOUR BOUFATHAL – FRÉDÉRIC BRULY BOUABRÉ – DORA DALILA CHEFFI – CHÉRI CHÉRIN – CALIXTE DAKPOGAN – IMANE DJAMIL – PETER DREHER – MOHAMED EL BAZ – SAFAA ERRUAS – MOUNIR FATMI – SIMOHAMMED FETTAKA – FATNA GBOURI – MALEK GNAOUI – HASSAN HAJJAJ – MOHAMED HAMIDI – FATIMA HASSAN AL FARROUJ – SAÂD HASSANI – ROMUALD HAZOUMÈ – CHOUROUK HRIECH – JOHNNY IZATT LOWRY – ANUAR KHALIFI – MAJIDA KHATTARI – ABDOULAYE KONATÉ – FAOUZI LAATIRIS – JOY LABINJO – GEORGE LILANGA – GONÇALO MABUNDA – ABU BAKARR MANSARAY – WALID MARFOUK – NAJIA MEHADJI – PAOLA MONZILLO – SHULA MOSENGO – MOHAMED NABILI – CASSI NAMODA – GRESHAM TAPIWA NYAUDE – ABDELKRIM OUAZZANI – GAHEE PARK – ABDALLAH SADOUK – GHIZLANE SAHLI – ABBES SALADI – CHÉRI SAMBA – ANA SEGOVIA – ILIAS SELFATI – LOUTFI SOUIDI – TESFAYE URGESSA – ABDERRAHIM YAMOU – MIKE YATES – MICHAELA YEARWOOD-DAN – BILLIE ZANGEWA
Audio visit
To find out more about game(s) in art, listen to the online guided tour of the exhibition. Produced by its curator Meryem Sebti for Diptyk magazine, this audio tour will allow you to discover the exhibition step by step.
Episode recorded at MACAAL and produced in partnership with Maroc Télécom.
